Ken Everett
Live from the courtroom: Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner’s attorney evoked Arthur Miller’s The Crucible to begin his closing argument this morning, saying his client is no serial killer but merely the victim of a witch hunt by authorities.
Being branded a “suspected serial killer,” attorney Ken Everett said, is “not unlike being called a witch, or back in the ’50s being called a communist.”
Everett called on the jury to heavily scrutinize what he called “shaky evidence,” particularly the testimony of the state’s star witness Samuel Dieteman, who told the jury earlier this year that he accompanied Hausner on a string of assaults and killings in the summer of 2006.
Hausner is on trial in Maricopa County Superior Court, accused of eight murders and 79 other crimes. The trial, taking place in a downtown Phoenix courtroom, is coming to a close this week at the end of its sixth-straight month. Hausner has insisted he had no part in the crimes, which later became known as the Serial Shooter killing spree.
Perhaps it is appropriate Everett referenced a play to kick off his closing argument. He has easily been the most theatric of any of the attorneys involved in the case and continued today to show his flair for the limelight. Within the first hour, he paced the floor of the courtroom, waved his arms and spoke loudly to keep the jury focused on his final plea of innocence for his client.
Everett heavily attacked the testimony of Dieteman, who lived with Hausner in an apartment in Mesa at the time of their arrest in August 2006. He called Dieteman “an admitted killer” and reminded the jury of the alleged co-conspirators credibility problems. “His hobbies were limited to drinking, smoking meth and bar fighting,” Everett said.
Dieteman had a strong motive to point the finger at someone else for the crimes, Everett said. The confessed killer, who is still facing the death penalty, is hoping his cooperation will help convince a jury to spare his life. “His testimony, which has been bought and paid for by the state, is an effort to save his life,” Everett said. “And he would say anything to do so.”
“My client?” the veteran defense attorney said. “Completely different.”
Hausner was a local boxing match photographer before his arrest. He had his own cable access television show. And he even tried his hand at stand-up comedy. He had a job as a janitor, and helped take care of his daughter. “Dale Hausner in 2005 and 2006 was a busy busy man, but it had nothing to do with shootings,” Everett said.
Everett’s last chance to convince the jury of his client’s innocence will continue this afternoon.